It’s a Saturday in Madisonville, TX. If you are on your way to Dallas from Houston, it’s is a good place to stop for a break. Madisonville is a typical small Texas town with a McDonalds (which is always busy) and local burger joint (which is rarely busy) and three brand name gas stations within walking distance to each other.

We know why the McDonalds is always busy. Travelers have a comfort level with the brand. They know they can pretty much count on this McDonalds being just like the last 100 they’ve ever been to. And they are correct! No surprises here. It’s familiar, efficient and the bathrooms are clean. The local burger joint probably has much better food and ambiance but we really don’t know and we’re not up for risking it so… we make the easy decision to go to McDonalds.

Now the gas stations are a more interesting story. All three are brand names — Shell, Exxon and Chevron. Shell and Chevron are on the corners and Exxon is next to Chevron just a stone’s throw away.

Since they all three have similar market share in the minds of most American travelers and Chevron and Shell locked up the “location, location, location” differentiator, poor Exxon was left to come up with another way to differentiate themselves and get some business.

Lots and lots of cars both getting gas and parked at the door for both Chevron and Shell. Exxon — not a car in sight.

I’m not sure how Exxon came to the point where they ended up. I’m guessing it wasn’t a bunch of suit and ties in a room tossing out big words like differentiation, client focus, brand management. No. Not for this strategy. This one looks more, well, I’m not sure.

They must have decided that their best bet was to appeal to the traveler who simply didn’t want to be bothered — by anyone or any thing. Who knows, maybe this is a good strategy considering their situation. This is probably one of those cases where the strategy was okay but the execution all wrong.

Anyway, take a look at the results of their efforts in carrying out this strategy. Now tell me, does this look like a place where you’d like to get out and spend your money? No. No it doesn’t. In fact, it looks like a place where if you did anything wrong, the owner would just shoot you on the spot.

Panoramic view of the Exxon station in Madisonville Texas

Welcome (not) sign seen from the road

And a couple more no no's at this gas station

Of course this is an extreme example of differentiation gone bad. Clearly, no one involved ever thought about how a customer might feel driving into this facility. This is such a blatant example of  internal focus we could not have made it up.

If you are angry with your clients, your business or your position in life, then maybe it’s time to get out of the business or seek help in changing your attitude. Just like it did for the owner of this Exxon, the universe has a way of giving you what you project. (A little added marketing therapy!)

Differentiating your business from others is probably the most effective and challenging thing you will do, but you will only be successful if you always keep your clients in mind. Always keep asking, “why / what.” “Why is what we do important to them, why do they buy what do they need what need do we fill, what pain do we ease….why why why, what what.

Well, I’m off to Shell!

I love working with entrepreneurs! They are amazingly creative, passionate and completely oblivious to failure. And I don’t mean they are ignorant or Polly Anna’s or stuck in some fairly tale. It’s just that they have an entirely different perspective on life.

Here’s what I mean. December 2008 I received an email from a friend and client. He sends out a monthly email to his clients and prospects and this one was a little different. It contained a link and he urged us to “read the eight comments in the link below from some of the sharpest minds on the planet.” Well, I did but after about the fourth one I stopped. I simply do not know what to do with this type of information so I just stopped reading.

I zipped him back a note and said, “This is too depressing to read. Can’t you send something happier???” His response back to me was “Well, one can choose to face reality or ignore it. I typically avoid the “head in the sand” approach…but, that said, I’ll forward ’something happier’ soon.” To be honest, I didn’t know what to say to this either so I just let it go.

Later that week we visited in person and he told me that my response was very typical of  the entrepreneurs he works with. And that he got just the opposite response from his corporate clients – they were all very appreciative of the information and eager for more. Which I guess means they know what to do with this information. Not sure.

The same week that I was asked to read from the above link — The 8 really, really scary predictions, I had four appointments. Three with existing clients and one new prospect. All four appointments were beaming with excitement as they each had a new project they were about to launch. I suspect these four people never read The 8 really, really, scary predictions. They probably do not watch the news or read much of the newspapers. I also know they are all focused intensely on value and serving their clients. They have excellent reputations and relationships. They spend their days  solving problems for their clients.

So, what shall we do about the times we’re in?

As far as I can tell, the laws of nature can give us some direction. I know for certain that the things you put your attention on tend to grow or become more prominent in your life. It’s just like Einstein said to Heisenberg in  1926 – it’s nonsense to found a theory based on observable facts alone: “In reality the very opposite happens. It is theory that decides what we observe.”

So maybe it’s as simple as coming up with a theory you like, then making a conscious effort to observe it.

I’m going to start with my company’s vision and tag line. I want them to be the same. Our old one was “Helping innovative companies implement great marketing ideas.” It’s okay but I’m looking for something more, well, more visionary.

So, here’s what I’ve come up with:

“Sparking possibility. Realizing potential. Communicating the brilliance of people and business.” **

Yes, that’s what I want for my company and my life. I want to be a spark of possibility. I want to enroll our clients into their own possibility then help them share their brilliance with the world.

Here are some others we came up with or found:

Leifers – the possibility of love, caring and nurturing in every day.

National Signs – the possibility of more meaningful communication for the world.

Commodity Trading Show – an experience of truly being alive.

IBM – let’s build a smarter planet.

Best Friends Pet Rescue – A better world through kindness to animals.

So now I’m going to go and observe prosperity and possibility. And I’ll share what I find with you.

** A very special thank you to my dear friend and asociate, Dusty Gilbert, for her help in perfecting this vision statement. Thank you Dusty!

Home page for the Houston Hurricane Recovery Site

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been working with Cindy Gabriel of Sabine Communications and the City of Houston to launch their new hurricane recovery site www.houstonhurricanerecover.org . It’s been an interesting process. I’m amazed how how many people, organizations, politicians, and companies are involved. I had the opportunity to go to one of the Mayor’s meetings where he brings all the support organizations and the media together to talk about their progress. Fascinating to see the interactions and how very challenging it is to communicate what needs to be said to the public.

Even though this is pretty much the same group that handled the Katrina hurricane aftercare, the situation here in Houston is quite different and as such, everyone seems to be having to reinvent the process. As my friend and client, Cindy Gabriel, stated from the beginning, “if you’ve seen one disaster, you’ve seen one disaster.” No two seem to be alike.

The Houston Hurricane Recovery site is an excellent  marketing tool for the city. It is a culmination of all the inforamtion you could ever need to know about getting help from the aftermath of IKE. They market the site through the various organizations and through their helpline, municipal TV, and their extensive communications department. This is the first site we’ve built on the Drupal CMS platform. The back-end of the site is being built using the Drupal technology by one of our technology partners, Mike Roberts. We like the platform because it allows us to design the site exactly how we want so we can get the best information in all the right places. With some of the CMS technology platforms, we have to back into their template and this can be problematic. We get very whiny.

We’re proud to be part of this effort and wish all the hurricane victims who are still trying to recovery the very best. It’s pretty complicated but it seems to me that Mayor White, the city and these organizations do sincerely care.

If you are interested, Mayor Bill White and Harris County Judge Ed Emmett are holding another hurricane recovery progress meeting on Thursday, November 6, 2008. Promptly at 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.  George R. Brown Convention Center, Hall 360 A-F:  3rd Floor, GRB South Wing  Topics will include Hurricane Ike recovery efforts related to:
FEMA
Home Repair
Housing Assistance
Please RSVP to Jesse Bounds at (832) 393-1025 or jesse.bounds@cityofhouston.net
Parking validation for Hilton Americas Garage at meeting location

I’ll be interested to see the progress they’ve made since the last meeting.

I have this wonderful little book called Imagination In Business by Lorin F. Deland. His definition of imagination is quite useful — “Imagination is the ability, upon seeing any object, to construct around that object its probable or possible environment.” He goes on to say,  “The man of imagination writes a drama. His dramatic instinct apprehends the power of contrasts; he constructs a plot; he realizes what each person will do, and why he will do it. His characters take possession of his will; they act out their own destiny. He relates it all together.”

It’s the ability to have your clients and prospects see themselves; see their situation, in your story, your solution. When you can achieve this, you’ve hit a home run. One of the quickest and most effective ways to turn prospects into clients is to do just this — help them articulate what they want and need then show them how they can have it.

One of the best ways to introduce imagination into your business story is to relate one thing to another — focus on relating separate thoughts/objects/ideas into one. Deland calls this the “synthesis of the mind.”

Deland’s provides a brilliant example of how to get people into your story, how to relate separate thoughts into one… I’ll paraphrase it here:

One Saturday afternoon two boys were standing at opposite sides of a crowded thoroughfare. Each were offering their shoe shine services. Each boy had his shoe shine box slung over his shoulder and each stood at the curb to solicit the passers-by. Each boy had a “call” or method of solicitation — a headline! They each repeated their solicitation at regular intervals. The two  solicitations were entirely different but each was composed of only four words. They never varied from these four words. Yet, one of these boys secured twice as much business as the other.

The first boy’s solicitation was, “Shine your boots here.”

The second boy’s solicitation was, “Get your Sunday shine!”

Since it was a Saturday, late in the afternoon, the second boy was able to relate two different but important pieces of information— (1) he was there to shine your shoes; (2) tomorrow was Sunday, time was running out and no self-respecting Christian would want to go to Church with dull shoes.

Lorin F. Deland wrote this book in 1909 but it seems to me like things have not changed much. In fact, for the most part, human nature has not changed since the beginning of human nature!

So, what will be your solicitation, your headline today?

When I visit with clients about marketing: what to say, what to do, when to do it, how it all gets done, etc. I always encourage them to educate their clients. I believe that marketing is the ongoing education of your clients. By continually educating them on things that matter to them and how you and your company relate, they will acquire a real appreciation for you. The challenge is, most companies don’t do this. I’ve seen my share of PowerPoint presentations (heck, we’ve even built them!) that go on and on about all the services a client company offers but there is rarely any educating going on. It’s usually just a massive feature dump and a 20 minute commercial called ME ME ME ME. Now, if we can get our talented little design hands on the presentation, we may not be able to talk the client out of the ME content, but at least we can make it look great!! (Now, that was a little ME commercial, wasn’t it? Sorry!)

Let’s keep going.

It could be that companies don’t like to educate their clients because the whole thought turns them off. Maybe they get transported back into their 8th class where Mrs. Green is endlessly nagging them. Who knows. What I have figured out from this is I’m going to start using a different word. I’ve noticed that people in general do not like the word EDUCATE or LEARN. In fact, it’s one of those show-stoppers. You include that word in your copy and magically, your reader disappears.

I’ve been trying to find just the right word to use. At first I really liked “surprise.” After all, if you are imparting information that is news to another, it could be a surprise. But, it turns out that being surprised in business is really not that popular. So I have a new word. I’m now going to replace EDUCATE with EMPOWER.

What if our sole purpose as marketers was to empower our clients? What would that mean? What would that look like? Feel like? Sound like? Well, I don’t have answers to all those questions (yet) but I do know one way to empower another is to expand their world. Here’s an example of what I’m thinking…

Let’s suppose you are a catering company. Been in business around 10 years or so. You decide it’s time for you to start offering organic items on your menu. You schedule appointments with your top clients to let them know.

Scenario A — Typical Presentation
You meet with Mary, the executive administrative assistant, at the large oil company. You bring her a sample of one of your new organic items. While she’s trying to figure out how to eat the bean sprout without it going up her nose, you start your presentation. You pull out the new menu and show her the new items, you ask about any upcoming events and remind her that you are already booking up for the holiday season. You talk about the last event and chit chat about upcoming plans for the weekend. You ask her if she likes the new item. You wrap up. She thanks you and says she’s glad to know about the new items. You say you’ll stay in touch.

Scenario B — Empowering Presentation

You call Mary, the executive administrative assistant, at the large oil company and let her know you’ve got some very important information you’d like to share about the health of the company’s employees and that you’d like to meet with her and the head of HR. You promise you’ll only take up 30 minutes and that you’ll also bring some goodies. She’s intrigued by your approach so she sets the meeting and says she’ll try to get the head of HR there too. You send over a fax two days before the meeting with the agenda for the meeting and you reiterate the focus of the meeting — “10 Most Important Reasons Your Employees Are Not Feeling As Good As They Could And How This Affects Productivity” Again you promise only to take 30 minutes and thank her in advance for getting the HR Director to attend. You call the day before to confirm once again.

You arrive a few minutes early with goodies and a flip chart in hand (okay, maybe you ask to have the chart there or bring an assistant). You don’t need a PowerPoint presentation because you know your “stuff” so well all you need is the flip chart — And this is really only for effect and to hold attention. You thank Mary (and hopefully the HR Director) for coming. You start your presentation. (You wait until after the presentation to hand over the goodies. You want them focused on you for now.)

You start by sharing some interesting information:

“Did you know that there have been 70,000 new chemicals introduced into our lives since 1940. And no one really knows what the effects really are of all of these chemicals. We do know that many of us our actually malnourished (no matter how much we eat) because of these chemicals and the way food is processed — it strips out all the nutrients and enzymes.”

“In 1940 one pound of spinach contained about 158 mgm of iron. In 1967 this fell to 27.7 mgm and today, it’s less than 2.2 mgm.

“Your body requires over two million red blood cells every second. If it can’t get the red blood cells it needs from the food you eat, it will find other ways… It will breakdown the protein enzymes from the organs and muscles of your body to make red blood cells. This of course will weaken your entire system.

“Now of course the best way to help your body is by giving it the proper nutrients. And, the best nutrients should come from the food we eat. The problem is, most of the food we eat has no nutrients. This is slowly taking it’s toll on our bodies and our productivity.”

Then you would go on to discuss organic foods and how they contain the needed nutrients and can help restore health and productivity.

Once you’ve finished sharing the importance of healthy food you talk about the ingredients you use in your organic line. You get as specific as you can about the nutrients each food type brings to the body. Then you give them the samples you brought with you. You ask questions like: “Is Big Oil Company looking for ways to improve the health and well being of its employees? Is the company looking for ways to be more environmentally conscious? Are employees starting to talk more and more about the environment and their part in it?”

You then share your new organic menu that is more of a story book than a menu. This books has all your new items and a story on each — where you get the ingredients: how the vegetables are grown and cared for naturally; how the chickens are allowed to live a happy healthy life roaming free on a big open space; how the cows are allowed to live happy dignified (no steroids) lives eating natural (no chemicals) grass; why your body will respond positively to these ingredients, etc.

Now, at the end of this presentation, do you think Mary and the head of HR will see you and your company differently? Will they go back and tell the stories about spinach and red blood cells to their friends and family? Have you expanded their view on food? Have you empowered them with knowledge they did not have before?

Yes. Yes you have.

Is it a lot of work to put a presentation like this together?

Yes. Yes it is. But, once you do, you’ll have it and you can begin to share it with all your clients and train your whole staff to give the presentation too — even if they never get in front of a client, you’ll get their buy-in and you’ll empower them as well.

I guess it’s all a matter of how you want to be perceived. How you want your clients to think of you. And, how much bang you get for your buck/time. The best thing would be to test it out. Line up 10 presentations and do 5 the old way and 5 the new way. Monitor the results and see if this type of effort will be worth it for future presentations. The worst thing would be to assume you already know the outcome without testing it.

Please share your thoughts on empowering clients with us — okay?

Okay, we are NOT fans of decisions made by committee. Especially design by committee. We resonate fully with David Ogilvy when he said, “Search all the parks in all your cities, you’ll not find one statue of a committee.” But…every so often it’s probably a good idea to get a second opinion or at least a second set of eyes on things. Take this sign posted on the front door of the Post Office. I guess this is one way to reduce the number of packages being sent. I suspect dogs cannot carry many packages. I wonder what internal process the Post Office uses when they decide they need to communicate to their customers. Hummmm.

Now of course none of us runs our businesses like the Post Office. But, this does get me thinking about the signs, signals, and rules we have in our business. Our biggest challenge as humans lies in managing expectations (seeing eye dogs do not seem to have these issues). I know that in our business, anytime there is a disappointed client it’s because we failed to communicate correctly, which led to unmet expectations. Sometimes communicating is just hard. I really don’t know why that is. The end result of bad communication is always much uglier than whatever fear I have when I don’t communicate clearly. I’m learning.

If any of you needs to go to the Post Office then let me know because I know several excellent dog trainers and they can probably teach your dog to be seeing eyed, carry packages, and get in that front door.